The 5 Most Incredible Things Ever Done Purely Out of Spite

Sometimes really extreme measures are warranted. In one town, residents wouldn't vacate their homes to make way for an office complex, so developers rerouted an entire fucking river to encircle their houses. Using bulldozers, the construction crews created a mini river that was "as deep as a man and twice that wide." Then they cut the residents' power and fresh water so they ended up as squatters in their own houses.

We all dream of the day we can get recognition for doing what we love. Members of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church are no different from the rest of us. It just so happens that what they love is using the funerals of American soldiers and celebrities to get publicity for their hate-filled anti-homosexual agenda. Can WBC members help it that they are the skid marks on the underwear of the world? Of course they can, that's why they make us so mad.

After seeing a 9-year-old boy stand up to the church by holding a sign that said "God Hates No One," one nonprofit organizer was inspired to do the same, but in his own way. Aaron Jackson looked up the church on Google Earth and happened to notice that a house across the street was for sale. Now, while most people would sooner take up residence in the depths of hell than live next to the world's most famous hate group, Jackson was in the market for housing for his group's volunteers and a place to make a point. Six months and $83,000 later, the house is now the property of Planting Peace ... and it's gotten a paint job.

Every time members of Westboro Baptist Church go to church, they are lambasted with the colors of gay pride. Even better -- the WBC's founder's granddaughter now works with Equality House to bring attention to bullying. We guess there are worse ways to spend 80 grand.

Although the fence did prompt Yung and his family to move, they refused to give Crocker the satisfaction of buying their land. After Yung died in 1880, his wife took up the pissing contest torch and kept the land until her death in 1895. In 1904, relatives sold the property and the wall came down ... and then less than two years later the entire area was completely wiped out by the 1906 earthquake and fire. Because karma's a bitch.

A hundred years later, spite fences are still being built. When his neighbors in a new subdivision started complaining about the smells, mosquitoes, and dust that emitted from his working farm, Rhett Davis offered to pay for half of the cost of putting up some normal fences. They refused, because a fence would block their view. So he built a fence anyway -- three demolished cars planted nose down in the dirt in front of his farm. He calls it his "Redneck Stonehenge."

Of course, we could point out that three solitary cars aren't enough to hack it as a Stonehenge imitation, but let's not keep pushing the guy.

Lots of people use "haters" to motivate them. You know, somebody disrespects you in your youth, so you spend the next several years getting really good at rapping. You wouldn't think, however, that a person would take the trouble to turn a personal slight into one of the most prestigious automobile brands in the world. Yet tractor builder and former mechanic Ferruccio Lamborghini developed his luxury Italian cars for the sole purpose of screwing over a man named Enzo Ferrari, and keeping up with him -- rather than turning a profit -- became his primary mission in life.

In the early 1960s, Lamborghini went to Ferrari to complain about the clutch, which he considered the weak point on an otherwise superlative automobile. Clearly disdainful of the clutch-hating pleb, Enzo Ferrari responded, "You know how to drive a tractor, but you'll never learn to drive a Ferrari." Pissed off and in possession of a bankroll large enough to make his point universally heard, Lamborghini created his own car. He was determined to succeed, even selling his 350GT model at a loss to stay competitive with Ferrari.

By 1963, when Lamborghini ran into his rival in a restaurant and tried to say hello, Ferrari turned his head and ignored him. In a 1984 interview, the incredibly devoted automaker recalled the decades-old slight and said, "If Enzo Ferrari hadn't made that crack ... I might never have built my Lamborghinis." Hell, that makes us wonder if Lamborghini even liked making cars, or if he'd rather have been a farmer. Just bitterly overseeing his production line, spitting in rage with each finished vehicle. "Fuck you, Ferrari! We just finished another one!"

Well, as the old saying goes, "Devoting your life to designing, building, and selling half-million-dollar luxury sports cars is the best revenge."

In the early 1300s, there was an ongoing conflict between the Italian city-states of Bologna and Modena, for the usual reasons people went to war back then (Bologna was loyal to the Pope, while Modena bore allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor). How the whole thing came to be about a stolen bucket, however, takes some explaining.

In 1325, Bologna got their ass handed to them by Modena at the so-called Battle of Zappolino. In addition to beating the Bolognese, the Modenese rubbed the victory in their face, both by holding a sporting event outside the walls of the defeated city ... and by stealing an oak bucket from their well. They kept it as a trophy to show off their victory. That was in 1325. They still have it.

That's supposedly the original bucket, which the Modenese keep in a glass display case, purely as a spiteful taunt to their rival city nearly 700 freaking years later. They even at some point made a replica bucket and suspended it from the bell tower of their cathedral:

And for seven straight centuries, any time anybody from Bologna tries to talk shit, the people of Modena have the ultimate comeback: "Well, we've still got your bucket, asshole."

For more spiteful creations, check out 7 Great Foods (That Were Created Thanks to Dick Moves) and 5 Villains That Were Thinly-Veiled Versions of Real People.

If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out 5 Ways We're Totally Ruining Kickstarter.

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